20 Oct, 2024 — Donita Kadharusman
Principles of Games Art 24/25
2D — Concept Art, Week 1
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Mind Map
In the beginning, I created a mind map which helped me to brainstorm ideas and themes. I chose the theme ‘Religion‘ as I am a Catholic myself, yet I often feel as if I am drifting away from my own beliefs. Hence, I will use this project as an opportunity to reconnect. Because of that, I choose ‘Forgotten World‘ as my second theme, as this also symbolises the feeling of losing my faith. And ‘Monochromatic‘ as my approach to colour. Even if it’s just one colour, it can still convey powerful meaning behind it. Blue that symbolises sadness, despair, and abandonment.
As for the context, I wanted something related to the sky and concluded to set the environment up in the sky.
The question was, how’d it get up there? An apocalypse.
Earth loses its gravitational pull and lands end up floating in the sky – abandoned. The concept art will portray a bittersweet scene where a church that used to bring people together is still standing strong in the sky, hoping it could bring people together once more.
The Glasgow Necropolis & St Mary Abbots Church Visits
Those themes were also inspired by my previous visits to The Glasgow Necropolis & St Mary Abbots Church. During these visits, the sky was gloomy, especially when the sun had gone down. Even if I observed the church’s interior, it was still moody and gloomy.
National Gallery Visit
On the 15th of October 2024, our class went on a trip to the National Gallery and I got to observe lots of spectacular paintings. Some of these are the ones I have attached here. I figure that these paintings are related to the project’s theme: Religion. One thing I noticed was that all figures wear long and loose clothing. Particularly when it comes to Jesus and a baby, the colour white is worn to signify purity and innocence. Another one was that some figures had yellow circles surrounding their head. I realised that these figures were considered holy.
As for other paintings, I was more captivated by the use of brush. How each painter used brush differently, yet they all could convey the depth and story behind these paintings. When I observed it even closer, I could see how they painted objects and made them believable to us, even if it’s just a bunch of dots (For example, the trees from a distance). Inspired by this, I intend to implement painterly style for this project.
Furthermore, Russell’s and Monet’s approaches to colour are more vibrant. I come to enjoy how both of them convey their own personality and feeling towards their art through colour. Pink to resemble warmth and possibly nostalgia, while gray for busy and moody atmosphere.
(1665-70)
by Claude Monet (1877)
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I was first introduced to compositions in class, so, to enhance my understanding I decided to learn and identify compositions from the paintings. How they are able to help paintings to look dynamic and organised.
A compound curve composition can be identified by an s curved line in the painting. While a pyramid is shown with elements that are placed to resemble a pyramid. Rule of thirds composition helps painters place their horizon line and objects on the lines. While L arrangement is where usually a tall object is placed on the left side of the foreground. At the end of the day, the easiest composition to spot were paintings with L arrangement composition. Hence, I will learn more about compositions and implement them into this project.
Mood Board
A mood board to collect ideas, inspirations, and references.
These inspirations mainly came from Valorant (2020) and Genshin Impact (2020). I remembered there’s a map that had floating islands due to destruction called Ascent. As I went around the map in spectator mode, I could see how gravity was weak and how some buildings were destroyed, leaving cracks and stones floating on their own.
While in Genshin Impact (2020), I observed the church which consists of a huge statue and a cemetery at the back. These elements are all connected, hence I will use these areas to extend the church for my upcoming piece.
Antoine Boutin, a concept artist who’s based in France has a realistic style yet expresses it with a melancholy atmosphere and colour. For instance, these 3 artworks show that the monochromatic style has depth and meaning behind it. Leaving the audience to feel one particular emotion, whether it is loneliness, melancholy, or even unsettling. Because of that, I want to implement one particular emotion into my piece as well by using this technique and that is bittersweetness.
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Thumbnail Sketches
Finally, I sketched some thumbnails while also utilising various compositions. While doing these sketches, I would always look back at the mood board that I had made. How a cemetery is an extension of a church just like Genshin Impact (2020) and how buildings are ruined because of destruction like Valorant (2020).
The first 2 sketches look rather flat compared to the 3rd sketch. And the first 3 sketches are straying away from the main idea: floating islands. I will make more sketches which represents the theme.
Life Drawing
The free life drawing session was crowded and we ended up in 2 separate rooms. I struggled with sketching without looking at the paper and they end up like some abstract lines (see the first 2 pictures). Not only that, I struggled with dynamic poses and perspective, but next week during this 2D unit I believe we’d learn about perspective as well. I’m looking forward to it and improve my skills. At the end of the session, more people came in and the room was full. I gave up in trying to sketch the model and ended up sketching other students (including YC) (see the last 2 pictures).
Research
During my first week, I also did some research on Catholic cemeteries. It is said that Catholic Churches have these sacred grounds as their extension (Emmons, 2022). That’s why most Catholic Churches have cemeteries nearby. Furthermore, statues that are placed in cemeteries are not random statues. It can consist of statues that represent Queen Mary, Jesus, or Angels. The Catholic Cemeteries (2022) show that Angels’ poses can symbolise meanings, for instance, grief can be represented in Angel Statues dropping flowers, while rejoicing can be represented in Angel Statues pointing to heaven (up to the sky). Going back to my initial intention of conveying bittersweetness in my piece, I decided to portray the latter.
An Angel that represents rejoicing is now nowhere to be seen. A place where people find connections to their deceased loved ones is now floating in the sky.
Bibliography
Boutin, A. (2017) ‘Both Surprised’ [ArtStation]. 8 March. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eJwQlJ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).
Boutin, A. (2022) ‘The Last of Us: Part II’ [ArtStation]. 28 September. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eJwQlJ (Accessed: 15 October 2024).
Emmons, D. D. (2022) ‘What Makes a Catholic Cemetery Catholic’, The Priest, 15 October. Available at: https://thepriest.com/2022/10/15/what-makes-a-catholic-cemetery-catholic/ (Accessed: 16 October 2024)
HoYoverse & MiHoYo (2020) Genshin Impact [Video game]. HoYoverse & MiHoYo. Available at: https://genshin.hoyoverse.com/en/home (Accessed: 28 September 2022).
Riot Games (2020) Valorant [Video game]. Riot Games. Available at: https://playvalorant.com/en-gb/download/ (Accessed: 18 May 2022).
The Catholic Cemeteries (2022) Gravestone Symbols and Their Meanings. Available at: https://catholic-cemeteries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Gravestone-Symbols-and-Their-Meanings.pdf (Accessed: 16 October 2024)